Exploring Professional Growth and the Art of Partnership
Join Molly Baker, Founder of Indie Consulting and Grace Nicklas, Associate Partner Manager at Inveterate, Inc for a conversation on professional growth and the power of partnerships. Read along for shared insights on enhancing brand visibility through synergistic partnerships and events in today's digital age. Discover effective strategies for approaching potential partners, promoting events, and leveraging digital marketing. Tune in to gain valuable insights into collaboration and professional development.
Molly Baker [MB]: Tell me what you're thinking about today. What's going on in your work-life world?
Grace Nicklas [GN]: As I mentioned, I'm in the middle of doing a conference right now. It’s been a lot of chatting with partners and trying to connect with new brands. That's definitely been my main focus.
Along with that, I’m looking at my travel's back home because I’m actually moving a week from Saturday. So I'm thinking about all the packing that will have to be done when I get back. So it's a nice mix of all the fun things.
MB: So you go to a lot of conferences?
GN: I do. I would say I travel definitely once a month, maybe twice a month. We do a mix of curated events which consist of smaller groups of 20 to 50 people, and then we'll do conferences. For conferences we typically just attend them and walk the floor talking to partners and seeing what’s going on.
Every event or conference you go to you learn so much and see the coolest booths. Seeing what people do is very fun and very cool.
MB: What would you recommend for someone that goes to conferences occasionally and has to just approach people? Do you have any tips or tricks for that?
GN: Yeah. If it is a woman that I’m talking to, I usually compliment them first. I think since so many people are going there with the intention of talking to other people, if you are willing to start the conversation they will follow along. I’ve also gone up to tables and just asked to sit down or put my stuff there for a second which usually leads to further conversation. Another thing I’ll do is go join a circle of people and acknowledge that it's a little awkward. Most of the time they will be very inviting and not think it’s awkward at all.
The biggest thing is to just go for it and pop yourself into different conversations.
MB: Brag about yourself. What else other than conferences are you really good at?
GN: I would say that at my company we have started doing really cool and out of the box events. Lots of dinner parties, but also we’ve taken founders and CEOs to Drake concerts in a suite experience. So my brag is that myself and the company have done a really good job at creating super cool and unique experiences that people remember.
MB: Do you think there are other players in your industry doing events like this, or are you guys breaking the norms by being more creative?
GN: I think people have started moving in that direction.We started doing it during the middle of last year so I think at that time it felt more like a breakthrough. But now, people are starting to realize that it’s harder to get brands to come out to these events, so you have to make it something they cannot miss.
MB: Do you think that in bigger cities it’s easier to get people to events because that’s what they’re used to? Or something else? Talk to me a little bit about that.
GN: I think in bigger cities, it's easier to get people to the events because you have more people to pick from. I don't know if it's necessarily more successful because it's a more concentrated area of people or if they're more successful because they're used to coming out. Obviously, New York has public transportation, so that's a big thing too because it is easier for people to get around.
MB: How do you guys market your events?
GN: LinkedIn is our number one. We use LinkedIn for everything. We'll post on Twitter as well, but LinkedIn is where we say who's gonna be there, and then send out connections and invitations. It just feels more personal to me which I really like.
I also post a lot personally on LinkedIn. All my posts are about what events I'm going to, what events we're throwing, and where I am.
MB: Did your company push you to have your own presence to promote some of these events? Or was that more of a personal decision for you, and wanting to get people to the events?
GN: They definitely never said anything. I think our CEO mentioned that it would be cool if everyone had a personal brand, but it never directly came from above. I just watched my CEO post so much due to his large following and thought why not. Now it is one of my favorite social media platforms.
I will also say that bolstering a company brand with a personal brand has worked so well. It just creates a really good flow.
MB: What relationship has been most impactful on you professionally?
GN: I have two people in mind. Before this job, I worked for a wedding photographer in Charleston when I was a senior in high school. I was running his socials, editing wedding galleries, and helping him control the flow of the event. He was so talented and I learned a lot from him. Now that I’m in events I think a lot of what he taught me contributed to my success.
I would also say my current boss has taught me so much. I started as a content coordinator, but it was after the first event I helped with that he really opened me to the world of partnerships and event planning. The fact that he moved me up was super nice and incredible. Now within this new role of mine, he continues to teach me lots of things, and I gain a lot of my tips and tricks from him.
MB: Let’s do the reveal. Tell us who you are!
GN: My name is Grace Nicklas, and I work for Inveterate, which is in the world of memberships and loyalty in the ecommerce ecosystem. I am specifically the partnerships manager and in events.
MB: What does an average day look like for you?
GN: Lots of planning events because there are many steps. This includes the planning, the execution, finding people to attend, all the invitations, and then all of the follow-ups as well.
On the partnerships side, it’s a lot of working with partners for the events. This means checking back in with them, following up after events at conferences, and overall just making sure they are happy with their experiences.
MB: Events are a lot of work, and people often stay away from them because there’s a fear of rejection. How do you deal with that? What’s your mentality when it comes to getting over rejection?
GN: You kind of just have to understand that people will always be people. You can put together this amazing event and still know there’s probably one or two people who will not show up. One tip is to always have a wait list. It also helps to take stats so that your expectations are managed, and to help remind you that it is not your fault.
MB: Talk to me more about the partnership side. How do you think about partnerships? How do you structure them in a way that is beneficial for Inveterate and the partner? What goes into that relationship?
GN: I would say the biggest thing is finding a partner that has the same ICP issue, with the same customers. That’s a good place to start and then moving forward it’s important to understand everyone has different partnership styles. How we prefer to partner is with co-marketing and we do this through events, social media posts, along with leads.
There needs to be a good mix of how they like to partner and who their customers are.
MB: What's the high and the low of your current role?
GN: The high would be traveling. I absolutely love it. I just love going to new cities and connecting with people in person.
The worst part is recovering from traveling. When I come home I need a couple of days to decompress, unpack, and clean the house which aren’t always the most fun.
MB: At 21, did you ever think you would be doing what you're doing today?
GN: Absolutely not. When I graduated college, I was applying to do sports photography. But, I found that industry to be very tough to break into. So then I thought content creation would be a good fit because I had so much photography and videography background.
I started trying to find cool companies, and came across my job on Indeed. I had never done ecommerce or knew anything about the ecosystem but I thought Inveterate’s branding was super cool.
This was not something I ever thought I’d want to do, but I applied and got the job. I immediately felt at home because everyone was so nice and cool, and now I couldn’t be happier with where I am at.
Trendy or Tragic
New season of the bachelorette with Jenn Tran
NK: I think it's trendy. I’m not huge into the bachelor and bachelorette universe, but I think she’s really cute.
The Oura Ring
NK: I have mixed feelings about it, but I think I’m going with tragic. It’s chunky in a weird way, and isn’t the right gold.
Michael Rubin's annual all-white Fourth of July party
NK: Tragic. I didn’t even know it was still going on, I thought it was ancient. But, if I got invited, I would go.
Check out Grace Nicklas on LinkedIn, @grace_nicklas on Instagram, and @grace__nicklas on TikTok. As for Inveterate, you can find them on LinkedIn and @inveterate_hq on Instagram.
As for us, follow @namedrop.pod on Instagram & LinkedIn and @molbakes on Instagram for all future episodes and insights.
